Authors: Rivers Solomon with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson & Jonathan Snipes
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Publisher: Saga Press
What if the pregnant slave women who were thrown from ships by merchants had given birth while overboard? What if those babies had continued to breathe water and had become merfolk? That original premise is explored in The Deep, but does the concept work?
Deep under water, living a tranquil existence, dwell the Warinju. The descendant of African women taken from their homes by slave traders and then flung overboard once they became too ornery and fussy. The women who were pregnant gave birth and those children won't live their days under water as mermaids, though never using that name themselves. The Warinju don't remember the traumatic past, instead one of them is given the role of Historian, the one who has to shoulder the burden of remembrance. Through special rituals the Historian delves into the past, sometimes reliving the horrendous experiences of days gone by. Yetu is at the center of The Deep. She is the Historian in her group and is herself traumatized by the task set before her. So much that she flees to find answers at the surface, where she comes in contact with the two-legged Oori, with whom she shares a history.
There is quite a bit of originality in this deep sea tale. According to the afterword the idea behind it formed like a telephone game. A whisper from storyteller to storyteller until it became the entity it is today. In a way that is very noticeable when reading. The story is told almost like a whisper, or the song by Clipping that it is partially based on. The language is poetic, filled with repetition and dream like sequences. At times a swirl of new words and expressions that sometimes are names and other times titles. It draws the reader into its modernistic verve and traps them under the surface. It is at times difficult to discern what is remembrance and what is experienced by Yetu.
Unfortunately The Deep ,for all its dreamy and fantastical strengths, only leaves its readers wanting more. Although the premise of the world that Rivers and company have created is both imaginative and unique it lacks a central plot point interesting enough to bring the reader into it. The language is at times disjointed and mimics Toni Morrison at her worst, making the story difficult to follow. Yetu's difficulties in coming to terms with her people's past and contact with the surface world does nothing to further what is otherwise a brilliant beginning. There is a sensation that the authors want to cram as much as possible on a few pages and the reluctance to give a broader view is only detrimental to the reading experience. As stated in the afterword the reader might be left wishing the story was longer. That is, by all counts true, but not because it is so exciting to read, no it is more due to dissatisfaction at not knowing where the story was going.
C. Marry Hultman
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